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Spiritual Soaring. Becoming the Follower God Wants You to Be. Isaiah 40:29-31. He [God] gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. 30 Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. 31 But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
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Spiritual Soaring Becoming the Follower God Wants You to Be
Isaiah 40:29-31 He [God] gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. 30 Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. 31 But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.
SOAR S • Self-Feeding. • take responsibility for their own spiritual understanding, character development and growth. • do not depend on a priest or a pastor or teacher to spoon feed them as though they are spiritual infants. • take the initiative to learn the skills necessary for their own spiritual development.
SOAR S • Self-Feedingto know and apply God’s Word for yourself • Self Feeding in Prayer • Self Feeding in “Body Life”
SOAR O • Obedient to the Spirit. • Not legalism, which is religious enslavement to a written code of laws. • a relationship of faith in and faithful obedience to the One God who loves us and lives in us through His Spirit and guides us in all areas of our lives.
SOAR A • Alert for Opportunities. • alert to opportunities for ministry. • take the initiative to share their lives, gifts, understanding in compassionate and Christlike ways.
SOAR R • Reproducing Spiritually • reproduce spiritually by making disciples of all people groups, including their own, • passing on to new believers all that they know about following Jesus.
Obedience • Galatians 2:16, • 16Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.”
Obedience • John 1:12 • “To as many as received him, to them He gave the right to become children of God!”
Obedience • James 1:22–25 (NLT) • ”But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.”
Obedience • Luke 6:46–49 (NLT) • “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say? 47 I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. 48 It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built. 49 But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.”
Obedience • “Freely you have received – freely give.” Matthew 10:8 • “The things you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” 2 Tim. 2:2 • “From those to whom much has been given, much shall be required.” Lk. 12:48 • The parable of the talents. Matthew 25:14-30
What to Do • You will not be surprised to learn that the first thing you need to do is learn to self-feed. • The second thing you need to do is find someone whom you can trust—someone who encourages you, who builds you up, who takes joy in seeing you succeed. Ask them to be your accountability partner on those issues you want some accountability.
What to Do • The third thing is to develop the discipline of listening to the Holy Spirit’s voice (remember—God’s Spirit will never tell you to do something contrary to the plain teaching of the Bible!), and obeying what He says as soon as you can. • Be sure to record how God blesses you for your faithful obedience to His instruction. It will make you SOAR!